Edinburgh Parkinson's research firm awarded £4.7m from Michael J Fox Foundation

An Edinburgh-based company developing new medicines for people living with Parkinson’s disease has been awarded a seven-figure sum from the Michael J Fox Foundation.

Lario Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing medicines for epileptic and neurological disorders, was awarded a $6 million (£4.7m) grant from the Back to the Future actor’s foundation.

Hollywood star Fox was diagnosed with early on-set Parkinson’s disease in 1991, aged just 29 and set up the foundation in 2000.

Lario said the grant will fund its preclinical programme investigating selective CaV2.3 calcium channel inhibition as a novel and disease-modifying approach for treatment of the disease.

They say there is extensive study linking calcium channels to pathology of the disease, and preclinical experimental studies have shown that the deletion of CaV2.3 can protect against Parkinson’s.

Tom Otis, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience UCL and chief scientific officer of Lario Therapeutics, said: “We are grateful to MJFF (Michael J Fox Foundation) for their funding support for Lario’s efforts to test and develop a potential new therapy designed to prevent the loss of neurons that causes Parkinson’s disease.

“If our research is successful, this will represent an important new treatment option for patients.”

Henning Steinhagen, Ph.D., co-Founder and CEO of Lario Therapeutics said: “This significant funding from The Michael J. Fox Foundation will aid the work out of our therapeutic pipeline and the work we have achieved so far in advancing research in the field. We would like to thank the MJFF team for their support.

“This grant will help drive our ambition to progress our Cav2.3 program swiftly towards the clinic, to provide a new, effective treatment option for people with Parkinson’s disease.”

Gaia Skibinski, Ph.D., director of research programs at MJFF added: “MJFF is dedicated to funding innovative research, such as the work done at Lario Therapeutics, to develop a pipeline of novel therapies that can improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s disease.

“We look forward to seeing the results of Lario’s research on CaV2.3 as a novel disease-modifying approach for Parkinson’s.”

The programme is partnering with Professor Richard Wade-Martins and the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre (OPDC) for the study.

Professor Wade-Martins, head of the OCPD, said: “I am excited to partner with the team at Lario Therapeutics – having grant funding from MJFF is a testament to the impact this study aims to bring to patients.

“Our research centre works to understand the development of Parkinson’s, with the ultimate aim of targeting the molecular mechanisms of disease, to prevent disease onset or to delay progression.

“We see great potential in the CaV2.3 programme and are very happy to collaborate to study patient stem cell-derived neuronal models as part of the research.”